Anchorhead: A spirit gate between the Near and Deep Umbras. (See also Membrane)

Apocalypse: The age of destruction, the final cycle, the birth of death, the everlasting corruption, the end of Gaia - a word used in Garou mythology to describe the time of the final battle with the Wyrm. Many consider this time to be the present.

Auspice: The phase of the moon under which a particular Garou was born; commonly thought to determine personality and tendencies. The auspices are: Ragabash (New Moon; Trickster), Theurge (Crescent Moon; Seer), Philodox (Half Moon; Judge), Galliard (Gibbous Moon; Moon Dancer), Ahroun (Full Moon; Warrior)

Vulgar Argot:

Ape: Slang for human or homid. If the speaker wishes to indicate true contempt for the subject, she may use the word "monkey" instead.

Old Form:

Adren: A pupil or student who learns from a Mentor.

Airts: The magical paths within the spirit world (e.g., Spirit Tracks, Moon Paths, etc.)

Aisling: A journey into the spirit world.

Anamae: "Soul friend"; most often a bond with a pack totem.

Anruth: A Garou who travels from caern to caern but is bound to none of them.

Athro: Teacher, Mentor.

Awen: The sacred Muse, the creative impulse. Some say she is a spirit, but she has never been found. Moon Dancers periodically go on quests for her.

Gaming Terms:

Ability: A Trait that describes what a character knows and has learned rather than what she is. Abilities are Traits such as Intimidation, firearms, and Rituals.

Action: An action is the performance of a consciously willed physical, social or mental activity. When a player announces that his character is doing something, he is taking an action.

Advantages: This is a catch-all category that describes the Gifts and Backgrounds of a character.

Attribute: A Trait that describes a character's inherent aptitudes. Attributes are such things as Strength, Charisma, and Intelligence.

Auspice: The moon under which a Garou was born; this determines her "profession" or role in werewolf society.

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B
Common Parlance:

Bane: Evil spirits that follow the Wyrm. There are many different kinds of Banes: Scrag, Kalus, Psychomachiae and more.

Bawn: A boundary area around a caern, where mortals are watched.

Blight: Any corrupted area in either the sprit world or physical reality.

Breed: The ancestry of a Garou, be it wolf, human or other Garou.

Vulgar Argot:

none

Old Form:

Brugh: Any sort of mystic place, whether a Garou caern or a Wyrmhole

Game Terms:

Botch: A disastrous failure, indicated by rolling more "1's" than successes on the 10 sided dice rolled for an action.

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C
Common Parlance:

Caern: A sacred place; a meeting spot where the Garou can contact the spirit world.

Celestine: The greatest spirits; the closest things the Garou have to gods. Examples are Luna (the Moon) and Helios (the Sun).

Concolation: A great moot, wherein many tribes gather to discuss matters that concern the Nation of Garou.

Concord, The: The agreement all the tribes reached nearly 9,000 years ago, after which the Impergium was ended. The traditions thereof are still obeyed today.

Corruption: The Act of destroying, devolving or debasing life; also, the often overwhelming effects of the Wyrm's actions. in the present age, it often specifically refers to the ecological ruin humans wreak upon the environment.

Crinos: The half wolf, half man form of the Garou.

Vulgar Argot:

Cadaver: A derogatory term for a vampire.

Old Form:

Charach: A Garou who sleeps with another Garou or has done so in the past. Often used as a word of anger.

Chiminage: Traditionally, a sept can make a request of any Garou who uses its caern; "chiminage" is the term for the request.

Cliath: A young Garou, not yet of any standing rank.

Game Terms:

Character: Each player creates a character, an individual she roleplays over the course of the chronicle. Though "character" could imply any individual, in Werewolf it is always used to describe the players' characters.

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D
Common Parlance:

Deep Umbra: The madness suffered by humans who look upon a Garou in Crinos form.

Delirium: The madness suffered by humans who look upon a Garou in Crinos form.

Domain: A mini Realm in the Umbra, usually connected to a larger Realm in the Deep Umbra.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Game Terms:

Dice Pool: This describes the dice you have in your hand after combining you different Traits. It is the maximum number of dice you can roll in one turn, though you can divide these dice between (or even among) different actions.

Difficulty: This is a number from 2 to 10 measuring the difficulty of an action a character takes. The player needs to roll that number or higher on at least one of the dice rolled.

Downtime: The time spent between scenes when no roleplaying is done and turns are not used. Actions might be taken, and the Storyteller might give some descriptions, but generally time passes quickly.

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E

Common Parlance:

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Game Terms:

Extended Action: An action that requires a certain number of successes for the character to succeed

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F

Common Parlance:

Fomori: Humans who have turned to the Wyrm and drawn their power from it. They are the enemies of the Garou.

Vulgar Argot:

Feral: Slang term for Lupus

Flock, The: All of humanity, particularly those humans from whom the Garou recruit their members.

Old Form:

Fostern: Your pack brothers and sisters; those who are your family by choice.

Game Terms:

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G
Common Parlance:

Gaffling: A simple spirit servant of a Jaggling, Incarna or Celestine. Gafflings are rarely sentient.

Gaia: The Earth and related Realms, in both a physical and a spiritual sense; the Mother Goddess.

Garou: The term werewolves use for themselves.

Gauntlet: The barrier between the physical world of Earth and the spirit world of the Umbra. It is strongest around technological (Weaver) places, weakest around caerns.

Vulgar Argot:

Gremlin: A malevolent spirit.

Old Form:

Gallain: The Kinfolk of the Garou - those humans and wolves who are related to the People and are not prone to Delirium, but who are not actually werewolves

Game Terms:

Gifts: The mystical powers of a werewolf.

Gnosis: A measure of the spirituality of a werewolf. Gnosis (the circles) is a Trait used in various situations involving the spirit world, such as when a character "steps sideways." Gnosis points (the squares) are used to empower many Gifts.

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H

Common Parlance:

Hispo: The near wolf form of the Garou.

Homid: A Garou of human ancestry. Occasionally used disdainfully by Lupus (e.g., "That boy fights like a homid."). Also the name for the human form of a Garou.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Harano: Inexplicable gloom, inexpressible longing for unnamable things, weeping for that which is not yet lost. Some say it is depression caused by contemplation of Gaia's suffering.

Game Terms:

Health: This is a measure of the degree to which a character is wounded or injured.

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I

Common Parlance:

Impergium: The 3,000 years immediately following the birth of agriculture, during which strict population quotas were maintained on all human villages.

Incarna: A class of spirits; weaker than the Celestines, but still greater spirits by any measure.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

-ikthya: "Of the Wyrm"; a suffix appended to a name

Inceptor: A Garou who guides another through a rite. An inceptor is also called a ritemaster.

Game Terms:

J

Common Parlance:

Jaggling: A spirit servant of an Incarna or Celestine.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Game Terms:

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K

Common Parlance:

Keening: The empathic calling some Garou perform when howling.

Klaive: A fetish dagger or sword, usually of great spiritual potency and nearly always made of silver.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Kinain: The relationship among Garou who are related by blood through an ancestor. This term of endearment and pride is never used when referring to metis.

Game Terms:

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L
Common Parlance:

Litany: The code of laws kept by the Garou.

Lupus: A Garou of wolf origin.

Vulgar Argot:

Leech: See Cadaver.

Old Form:

Game Terms:

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M

Common Parlance:

Membrane, The: The barrier between the Near and Deep Umbras. To breach it, an Anchorhead must be found. Alternatively, the Garou can travel through the Dream Zone.

Metis: The sterile and often deformed offspring of two Garou. Generally reviled by Garou society.

Moon Bridge: A gate between two caerns; it most often appears during moots.

Moon Calf: Idiot, simpleton

Moot: A sept or tribal conclave that takes place at a caern.

Vulgar Argot:

Mule: Slang term for Metis.

Old Form:

Game Terms:

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N
Common Parlance:

Near Umbra: The spirit world surrounding the Gaia Realm.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Game Terms:

O

P
Common Parlance:

Pack: A small group of Garou bound to each other my ties of friendship and mission as opposed to culture.

Penumbra: "Earth's Shadow"; the spirit world directly surrounding the physical world; many, but not all, terrain features will be the same.

Protectorate: The territory claimed and patrolled by a pack or sept.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Pericarp: The Near Umbra around each Realm.

Phoebe: An Incarna of Luna, representing the Moon.

Praenomen: The guardian spirit of a pack.

Game Terms:

Points: The temporary scores of Traits such as Willpower, Rage and Health - the squares, not the circles

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R

Common Parlance:

Reaching: Traveling into the spirit world.

Realms: The worlds of "solid" reality within the Tellurian. Earth is referred to as the Realm.

Ronin: A Garou who has chosen or been forced to leave Garou society. It is a harsh fate to become a "lone wolf."

Vulgar Argot:

Run: A ritual hunt or revel that takes place at the conclusion of a moot.

Old Form:

-rhya: "Greater in station"; a suffix appended to a name.

Game Terms:

Rage: A measure of a werewolf's anger and inner Beast. Rage (the circles) is a Dice Pool used to determine a werewolf's chance to frenzy in a stressful situation. Rage points (the squares) are used to gain extra actions in a turn. They are regained when the character faces setbacks and embarrassment.

Rating: A number describing the permanent value of a Trait; most often a number from 1 to 5, though sometimes a number from 1 to 10.

Refresh: When points are regained in a Dice Pool, it is said that they are being "refreshed." The number of points regained is the refresh rate.

Renown: The measure of a Garou's worth in society. Renown is very important to the Garou, for they are concerned with how they are viewed within the tribe and by their people. Renown is divided into three different totals: Glory, Honor, and Wisdom. These totals can be raised by proper actions in the eyes of the tribe or lowered by infamous deeds.

Resisted Action: An action that two different character take against each other. Both compare their number of successes; the character with the most wins.

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S
Common Parlance:

Sept: The group of Garou who live near and tend an individual caern.

Vulgar Argot:

Sheep: Humans.

Stepping Sideways: Entering the spirit world. Most elders consider this term flippant and disrespectful.

Old Form:

Game Terms:

Scene: A single episode of the story; a time when and place where actions and events take place moment by moment. A scene is often a dramatic high point of the story.

Simple Action: An action that requires the player to score only one success to succeed, though more successes indicate a better job or result.

Storyteller: The person who creates and guides a Werewolf story. The Storyteller assumes the roles of all characters not run by the players and determines all events beyond the control of the players.

System: A specific set of complications used in a certain situation; rules to help guide the rolling of dice to create dramatic action.

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T

Common Parlance:

Tellurian: The whole of reality.

Totem: A spirit joined to the pack or tribe and representative of its inner nature. A tribal totem is an Incarna, while a pack totem is an Incarna avatar (a Jaggling equivalent).

Triat, The: The Weaver, the Wyld and the Wyrm. The trinity of primal cosmic forces.

Tribe: The larger community of Garou. Tribes members are often bound by similar totems and lifestyles.

Vulgar Argot:

Throat: To best another in ritual combat. Used as a verb (e.g., "I throated his sorry ass!")

Old Form:

Game Terms:

Trait: A Trait is any Attribute, Ability, Advantage or other character indexed that can be described as a number (in terms of dots).

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U

Common Parlance:

Umbra: The spirit world.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Urrah: Garou who live in the city; also, the tainted ones.

Game Terms:

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V

Common Parlance:

Veil, The: See Delirium.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Game Terms:

W

Common Parlance:

Ways, The: The traditions of the Garou.

Weaver, The: Manifestation and symbol of order and pattern. Computers, science, logic and mathematics are examples of the Weaver's influence on the material plane.

Wyld, The: Manifestation and symbol of pure change. The chaos of transmutation and elemental force.

Wyrm, The: Manifestation and symbol of evil, entropy and decay in Garou belief. Vampires are often manifestations of the Wyrm, as are toxic waste and pollution.

Wyrmhole: A place that has been spiritually defiled by the Wyrm; invariably a location of great corruption.

Vulgar Argot:

Old Form:

Game Terms:

Willpower: One of the most important Traits is Willpower. It measures the self-confidence and internal control of a character. Willpower works differently from most Traits - it is usually spent rather than rolled.

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Y

Old Form:

-yuf: "Honored equal"; a suffix appended to a name.

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